Courage and Love
by Mishelledor23
Summary: One-shot follow up to To Save Her Hanyou. Post-canon. Kagome has the baby and ponders Inuyasha's heart.


Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, Rumiko Takahashi is Queen.

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Kagome didn't need to ask to know that the last few hours had been absolute torture for her poor husband. She'd lost track of how long she'd been in labour, but it wasn't hard to picture Inuyasha pacing outside the hut, listening to Kagome's screams and snarling in frustration that there wasn't a single thing he could do to ease her pain. But he'd been forbidden from entering the hut upon the pain of a thousand "sits" and bless him, he'd managed it. When she heard the baby's first cries, Kagome allowed herself to take a deep breath and calm her racing heart. Sango finished wiping the infant dry and told Kagome in a choked voice,

"It's a girl." Kagome didn't bother trying to keep the tears from her eyes as she took her new daughter in her arms. Chubby, pink with only a tuft of ebony hair, she was the most beautiful thing Kagome had ever laid eyes on.

"Sango, would you please tell Inuyasha he can come in now?" She had barely finished the sentence when he appeared beside her, almost knocking Sango over in the process. She saw the terrified look in his eyes and decided to let it slide, just this once.

"Kagome, are you alright?" He cupped her face in his hands, closely inspecting her. She smiled and nodded, gratefully leaning into his touch. The baby wriggled in her arms, annoyed at the lack of attention being paid to her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kagome cooed, "You want to meet your Daddy now, don't you?" Carefully, Kagome transferred the infant into Inuyasha's arms gently instructing him on how to hold her.

"Hi." Inuyasha said breathlessly. To everyone's amazement, the baby stopped crying. Her eyes opened and Kagome let out a small gasp of surprise; they were the exact shade of amber as her father's. Kagome laid back, watching the happy scene playing out in front of her.

Back when they searched for the sacred jewel, they'd heard a few times about the philosophy of the four souls. Gyu-oh had tried to capture them to make his fake sacred jewels, seeking Miroku's soul of knowledge, Shippo's soul of friendship, Sango's soul of love and Inuyasha's soul of courage. But looking at him now, Kagome now wondered if she and everyone else, had him wrong all this time. Inuyasha had courage, there was no denying that, but oftentimes his courage came from the intense desire to protect the ones he loved. How many times had he thrown himself in harms way, never hesitating, solely to keep her safe? How many times had he doggedly found it in himself to keep fighting, even when badly injured and exhausted? All to protect her and their friends, because he loved them. Everyone had talked about Kagome's capacity for love and forgiveness, but what about Inuyasha's?

Inuyasha had empathized with Sango so much that he had not only readily forgiven her for stealing his sword and giving it to Naraku, he had vocally insisted she stay with them. She'd always told him he was too direct and harsh with his words, but looking back, they had all been grateful that Inuyasha trusted them to be strong enough to handle the truth. It had made them all want to rise to the challenge, even if they hadn't realized at the time. Is that why he had been their leader? They'd made noise about needing his approval for everything, yet they'd still deferred to his judgment. Most of the time.

He'd been criticized harshly by everyone for his flip-flopping between her and Kikyo. Maybe having him all to herself had mellowed her out a bit, but Kagome had to ask herself, was it really so bad that Inuyasha had the capacity to love two women so fiercely that prioritizing one over the other had been agonizing for him? He'd been so bitter and hurt by her betrayal, but the moment he'd discovered they'd been deceived, his grudge against Kikyo had vanished without a trace.

 _Were we too hard on him back then? We always gave him grief about being rude, but when you think about it, it's amazing he wasn't far worse._ She'd only recently found out Inuyasha's age. When she asked, she hadn't expected the casual answer,

"I dunno, exactly. I've lost count. Two-hundred maybe?" Sure, fifty years had been spent in limbo, but that was still more than a century of him living all alone, rejected by both humans and demons and fighting constantly for survival. She couldn't imagine how horrible it must have been.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha asked quietly. She jumped at the sudden distraction from her thoughts.

"Yes?"

"Can I name her?" Kagome scooted closer and rested her head on his shoulder. The baby was calm and smiling, staring adoringly up at her father's face, completely at ease.

"What did you have in mind?" Kagome asked.

"Izayoi."

Kagome suddenly remembered the first time they'd ever spoken of Inuyasha's mother, how she thought he'd hated her. Now she understood just what he meant when he'd said she died a long time ago. Yet he still loved her and often laid flowers on her grave. She had been the first, and for a long time, the only one that had ever loved him. Kagome pressed a kiss against Inuyasha's cheek.

"It's perfect."

Today, life was perfect.

FIN

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Just a quick one! Hope you enjoyed and THANK YOU to everyone that has faved, followed and reviewed my stories! It's inspiring!


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